Wow! This is getting to be a habit…for the third straight lesson, we will be discussing a larger-than-usual number of verses…who knows, this may be "the wave of the future"! Seriously, my goal in each lesson is to look at a portion of scripture contextually, it doesn’t matter if it’s a word, a verse, a chapter or a book, I want to know as accurately as possible what the author was trying to say to the original recipients…only with that understanding can we hope to gain the most from our study.

I want to hark back to our last lesson where we talked about faith and works. James 2:14-26 is a great example of how "people with an agenda" can "interpret" the Bible to support their position. Those who think James is arguing for "a faith that works" see those verses as strong support for their position. Others, like me, who are convicted that James is arguing for a combination of faith (trust) and works (obedience), see those verses as strong support for their position.

Those who try to deny that there wasn’t any conflict between James and Paul should look at Paul’s description of an incident that took place in Antioch:

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." (Galatians 2:11-21 NASB95)

I think that it’s important to recognize that "unity" is not "uniformity"…the controversy between James and Paul did not destroy their unity for spreading the good news that Jesus Christ was the Messiah, both to the Gentiles and the Jews. I think there’s an example there for us as well.

Now, let’s look at our verses for today:

Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh. (James 3:1-12 NASB95)

James begins this section, as he does frequently, with a warning:

For some time, I, along with my spiritual mentor, felt this was a reference to man’s judgment because we couldn’t make the idea of God’s holding a certain group "more accountable" fit with our understanding of His grace…how can God judge a teacher more strict than others when we are all saved by grace? From experience, we both understood that when you find yourself in the position of "teacher", be prepared for others to view every aspect of your life through a microscope! Have you ever heard someone say, "How can he be a teacher when he (whatever he does of which they don’t approve!)"?

At this point of my life, with my present understanding of reconciliation, I’m quite sure that stricter judgment probably refers both to man’s judgment and God’s…Jesus gave some pretty strong warning to "teachers" when He said, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." (Mark 9:42 NASB95) Paul admonished Timothy, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5 NASB95)

Being a Bible teacher is serious business and presents constant challenges…it’s not easy to know what to do sometimes. When through your study, the Holy Spirit leads you to disagree with a traditional doctrine, you have to make a choice: 1) hold the "party line" and "don’t rock the boat" or 2) tell your class what you are convicted is true and run the risk of being viewed as a "trouble maker" or even asked to step down as a teacher. Even that choice wouldn’t be as difficult if you were absolutely sure it was the Holy Spirit that was leading you.

I’m not trying to get your sympathy…I love what I do and wouldn’t be as happy doing anything else. But I certainly understand why James warned that being a teacher carried heavy responsibilities…both with men and with God.

From his initial warning, James moves rapidly toward identifying what he understands to be the "culprit" for most, if not all, human problems…what we say. He uses the tongue to personify speech and compares it with a bit, a rudder, fire, a restless evil, an animal, a fountain and a tree. He contends that the tongue cannot be tamed and is capable of both good and evil. Conspicuously absent from this description is the idea that the tongue only reveals what is in the heart. According to Jesus: "The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart." (Luke 6:45 NASB95)

I can’t help but interject here that only when Christ is living inside the believer, expressing His life, uniquely and individually, in and through that body will the tongue ever be consistently used to bring glory to God.

In verse 6, James says that the tongue is set on fire by hell. What do you think that means?

The Greek word here translated hell is GEENNA (gheh·en·nah) and appears twelve times in the New Testament…this occurrence is the only one outside the Synoptic Gospels where in every case it is attributed to Jesus Christ Himself.

The word Geenna refers to the Valley of Hinnom, or Gehenna, which was the city dump outside the walls of Jerusalem, a place of constant burning of refuse. It is interesting to note that those who are pictured as going into Gehenna are, without exception, not the sinners of the world, but the SINNERS AMONG GOD'S PEOPLE. It was used to describe the place where every unclean and unnecessary thing was burned and consumed. The antitypical Gehenna to which our Lord alluded in His teaching is the process of PURIFICATION by which every unclean and unnecessary thing in the lives of His Holy People is purged and consumed by the fires of His judgment. Gehenna stands as a type of the place or process of the PURIFICATION OF GOD'S PEOPLE. I continue to be amazed that most Bible commentators feel comfortable with the idea that Jesus Christ will destroy or torture rather than purify and redeem.

According to John MacArthur: Jesus used that place (Geenna) to symbolize the eternal place of punishment and torment. To James "hell" conjures up not just the place but the satanic host that will some day inherit it—they use the tongue as a tool for evil.

According to the New Bible Commentary: James shifts his direction of argument at this point and compares the tongue to a spark which can set a forest on fire. The source of such a spark is hell itself. James is not speaking of the tongue as the God-given source of language. He is thinking, rather, of the tongue as something corrupted by the fall. Many, if not all, sins begin with a word. It may be spoken outwardly or silently ‘spoken’ inwardly.

According to the Inter-Varsity Press Bible Background Commentary: That the fire is sparked by "hell" suggests where it leads; Jewish pictures of Gehenna, like Jesus’ images for the fate of the damned, typically included flame.

James is addressing fellow believers (my brethren v.1). I believe he’s saying that if the tongue is ignited by the fires of the garbage dump, nothing good can result…the source determines the outcome! The Holy Spirit is symbolized by fire…if the tongue is ignited by the fire of the Holy Spirit, God will be glorified. It’s not the tongue or the fire that determines the result…it’s the energizing source that dictates the outcome…is it from God or the garbage dump? Are believers’ tongues always energized by the Holy Spirit? Are believers’ tongues always energized by the garbage dump?

As in all of his epistle, James is urging believers to make wise choices in their lives…to be sure their actions reflect what they believe so that they do not blaspheme the fair name by which (they) have been called. (James 2:7 NASB95)

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